Tag: #nevertoolate

Finally, I decided I wanted to write this thing, which had been growing in my head.

I did research to find a writing group. The first and the one closest to my home, met once a month. I attended and while they were a nice group, I discovered they were not what I was looking for. They gave a prompt at the end of the meeting and at the next meeting, you brought a story or poem based on that prompt.

I wanted help writing this thing in my head. The lead for this group understood and suggested I check out this upcoming event called NaNoWriMo. In case, you’ve never heard of it… National Novel Writing Month is a challenge to write 50,000 words in the 30 days of November. Check them out at www.nanowrimo.org.

One of the things I learned during my first NaNoWriMo in 2013 was that while I was sitting at my desk by myself, writing my story, I was not alone. In fact, hundreds of thousands of people all over the world were doing the same thing as I was… WRITING!

I finished my story on the final day at 4:30pm with 84,509 words. Then I was by myself again, with a raw first draft.

I turned back to the internet and found another writing group. This time I found what I needed. A critique group who offered me a place to present some of my work and receive constructive feedback. I will admit at the meeting I was brave enough to present the Prologue of my book, I was very nervous.

They butchered my baby!

After going home from the meeting and sobbing for a good long while. I went back to read the notes I had taken. I looked at my work with a swollen and puffy, critiqual eye. Discovering much of what I received was right and I needed to admit it. Some as the group referred is ‘utter twaddle’, because the critiquer did not understand where my story was going.

My writing and I as a writer have grown over the four years I have been with them. Yet, there are still things I need to learn about my chosen craft, which I will discuss in my next blog.

Know you may be by yourself when you sit down to write, but you are not alone in the world of writing.

Find others like you, your tribe. If the first or even your third group is not what you need, keep looking until you find those who are. As you grow, you may need to move onto another group that meet your needs as a writer.